


A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square

by lirin



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Gen, Music, Post Season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-03-15 23:04:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3465350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lirin/pseuds/lirin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peggy was right, the house was an awfully long ways from the Theater District. Funny how much shorter it seemed when you had just had a good audition, though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square

**Author's Note:**

  * For [saiditallbefore](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saiditallbefore/gifts).



Peggy was right, the house was an awfully long ways from the Theater District. Funny how much shorter it seemed when you had just had a good audition, though. Angie felt like it had been only a couple minutes since she had left the theater, yet the subway train was already pulling in to her station.

She bounced up the steps of the house—at least it was close to the subway station, if nowhere else—and looked for Peggy. This didn’t take long because Peggy had apparently been waiting for her.

“Angie! How did your audition go?” Peggy called. She stuck her head in from the library. “You’re smiling. Looks like it went well.”

“Yeah, it was swell. They let me sing all of the song I had prepared and then they wanted another one but I wasn’t expecting that so I didn’t have one ready so I sang ‘A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’ because that’s the only thing the pianist had music for. And I hadn’t heard that song in months so I wasn’t sure I would do a good job with it but the lady said afterwards that I sounded just like a nightingale myself. I think she was exaggerating, but hey, I’m not gonna argue with her.”

“That’s good! Did they have you read any scenes?”

“No, this is just a singing job, no acting. So just the two songs and I thought it would be just ‘thank you, goodbye’ but they want me to come to the callback tomorrow. They’re going to run everyone through a bit of choreography to make sure we can do the simple dancing that’s required, but as long as that goes well, and I’m sure it will, it sounds like I’ve got the job!”

“Congratulations! That’s terribly exciting.”

“Yeah, well, it’s just the chorus. It’s not like anybody will even notice me up there.”

“Yes, but it’s a chorus in New York. Next step, Broadway!”

“Well, I sure hope so. At least I can pronounce ‘Broadway’. I almost accidentally sang ‘A Nightingale Sang in Berk-lee Square’ instead of Bark-lee. Why’s it pronounced Bark-lee anyway? Other than to trip up us hapless Yanks.”

“Honestly, I don’t know. That’s just how it’s always been pronounced. I can’t imagine pronouncing it Berk-lee, that would just be odd. I think it was somebody’s name originally.”

“Maybe they just couldn’t spell.”

Peggy chuckled. “So, Nightingale, do you have to be really careful what you eat and drink before your callback, or can I buy you a malt as congratulations?”

Angie grinned. “Are you kiddin’ me? Let’s go!”

**Author's Note:**

> The song "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" was published in 1940, so I thought it would be a likely song for Angie's audition. It's a standard that has been performed by many well-known singers, and I've always liked it.
> 
> Here's [British darling Vera Lynn's 1940 recording](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RRNlBGL89g), which I suspect Peggy would have heard. It's also my personal favorite of the recordings I've heard to date. And I know most people are probably not going to want to listen to this song over and over as much as I have, but a couple more links...The most well-known American version was probably [the recording by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N20b3AmxD0) (also 1940). And since I've always liked Mel Tormé, [here's his rendition](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUOi1ogwE8o), even though it's from the 1990s.
> 
> The image is based on the actual cover of the sheet music; different editions had pictures of different singers who had performed the song. So since I had Angie perform the song, I figured she deserved her own cover. :-) Thanks to my sister [Kittychan](http://kittychan-sings-enka.tumblr.com/tagged/my%20graphics) for providing tips on using GIMP, so that I did not become a sobbing puddle on the floor at any point in the creation of this image!


End file.
